1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shower head securing device, and more particularly to a shower head securing device which is easy to adjust.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, most prior art shower head securing devices comprise, as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13 or as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,651,939, a shower head 50, a casing 60 and a securing device 70. The securing device 70 comprises a base 71, a first connecting member 72, a second connecting member 73, a shaft 74, a plurality of flat washers 75, a plurality of engaging pieces 76, a pressing member 77 and a nut 78. The shower head 50 has a connecting pipe 51 at each side, and the connecting pipe 51 has two shower nozzles 52. The casing 60 has an opening 61 at each side. The base 71 has a first aperture 711 and a second aperture 712 at each side and a slot 713 on its upper surface. The slot 713 faces and is connected to the first aperture 711. The first connecting member 72 has a toothed engaging aperture 721 and a protruding end 722 perpendicular to its axial direction. The second connecting member 73 has a connecting tube 731 perpendicular to its axial direction; the second connecting member 73 is designed to match the joint 79, and water is able to pass through the connecting tube 731 and enter the connecting pipe 51 of the shower head 50. One end of the shaft 74 has a stop flange 741, a toothed portion 742, a threaded section 743 and a connecting end 744. The flat washers 75 and the pressing member 77 all have toothed apertures 751, 771 at their center positions. Each engaging piece 76 has a plurality of evenly spaced engaging protrusions 761 on its outer circumference and a third aperture 762 at its center position, and the diameter of the third aperture 762 is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the toothed portion 742 of the shaft 74. The nut 78 has a threaded aperture 781 at its center position and evenly spaced teeth 782 on its outer circumference.
For assembly, the flat washers 75 sandwich the engaging piece 76, and the shaft 74 is placed through the third aperture 762 and the toothed apertures 751, 771 of the engaging piece 76, the flat washers 75 and the pressing member 77. Therefore, the toothed apertures 751, 771 of the flat washer 75 and the pressing member 77 are engaged with the toothed portion 742 of the shaft 74, and the engaging piece 76 is able to spin around the shaft 74 with the third aperture 762. The shaft 74 is placed through the first connecting member 72 to engage with the engaging protrusions 761 of the engaging piece 76 and the engaging aperture 721, and then the nut 78 is screwed onto the thread section 743 of the shaft 74 with the threaded aperture 781. A plurality of elastic rings are placed between the nut 78 and the pressing member 77, such that the nut 78 can press the flat washers 75 through the pressing member 77 to secure the engaging piece 76 with proper tightness for any necessary adjustments. The shaft 74 brings the pressing member 77 and the nut 78 together into the first aperture 711 of the base 71 and causes the nut 78 to face the slot 713. The screw for securing the base 71 pushes against the connecting end 744 of the shaft 74, and the second connecting member 73 is pivoted to the base 71 through the second aperture 712 with the joint 79. Then, the casing 60 is placed over the base 71, and the shower head 50 is combined with the protruding end 722 and the connecting end 744 via the connecting pipes 51.
When a user applies force to the shower head 50 to adjust the horizontal height and spray angle of the shower head 50, if the shower head 50 is too tight or too loose, the user can remove the casing 60 and use a proper hand tool to rotate the teeth 782 through the slot 713, as shown in FIG. 14, to cause the nut 78 to press the plurality of elastic rings to push the pressing member 77 against the flat washers 75. Therefore, the two flat washers 75 sandwich the engaging piece 76 more tightly and increase the friction among the engaging piece 76 and the flat washers 75. In order to loosen the shower head 50, the nut 78 is rotated in the reverse direction to permit the elastic rings to rebound, such that the pressing member 77 releases the flat washer 75. However, the flat washers 75 and the engaging piece 76 are not released away from each other, and so the user needs to move the shower head 50 up and down to cause the first connecting member 72 to move the engaging piece 76 and the flat washer 75 away from each other to obtain the desired tightness.
Subsequently, the shower head 50 can be maintained at the desired angle, and the casing 60 is attached again.
However, the above-mentioned prior art device has following drawbacks: 1. The users needs to rotate the small sized teeth 782 through the narrow space of the slot 713 to rotate the nut 78, which is very inconvenient and difficult. 2. Frequent adjustments with the teeth 782 may cause damage to the teeth 782. 3. The plurality of elastic rings are disposed between the pressing member 77 and the nut 78, and even when the nut 78 is loosened the flat washers 75 and the engaging piece 76 remain compressed due to the surface friction between the two, as shown in FIG. 15. Therefore, an external force is required to shake the shower head 50 up and down several times to force the flat washers 75 and the engaging piece 76 to release from each other, which can be very inconvenient. 4. The flat washers 75 are mechanically engaged with the engaging piece 76; therefore, they increases the wear between the parts and reduce the usable device lifetime. 5 when the flat washers 75 and the engaging piece 76 are damaged, the entire safety of the shower head 50 is compromised. 6. Assembly of the prior art structure is complicated and induces high manufacturing costs.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a shower head securing device to mitigate and/or obviate the aforementioned problems.